Thai PM accused of fabricating plot to kill him

AN army general sacked over an alleged assassination attempt against prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday the plot had been made up by the Thai leader himself.

General Pallop Pinmanee, deputy chief of the Internal Security Operations Command, was sacked shortly after powerful explosives were found in a car near Mr Thaksin’s Bangkok home and an army lieutenant driving the vehicle was arrested. The junior officer had once been Gen Pallop’s driver.

Gen Pallop said the explosive device was not wired to go off and questioned why the driver drove past the house several times instead of triggering the explosive.

“I think Thaksin cooked the thing up to damage me,” the general said, noting his connection with Chamlong Srimuang, a key leader in months of street protests earlier this year against Mr Thaksin.

Gen Pallop spoke as speculation mounted over yesterday’s incident, which the prime minister described as a plot against his life. “Bomb plot or stunt?” the English-language Bangkok Post said in its headline.

The newspaper quoted Prasong Soonsiri, a former head of the National Security Council, as saying the alleged plot was an attempt by the embattled government to divert attention from other issues and could lead to Mr Thaksin declaring a state of emergency.

Mr Thaksin has been under attack from Bangkok’s middle class, academics, some military officers and other sectors for alleged abuse of power and corruption, but has refused to step down and insists he will be the front-runner in his Thai Rak Thai party’s bid to win October elections.

Government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee insisted yesterday that the assassination attempt was real.

“This is not a set up or a cooked-up story. The assassination plot was serious. If the story was cooked up, police would not have been able to arrest the culprit, but now the culprit is being detained under police custody,” he said.

The suspect, Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana, was an officer with the Internal Operations Security Command. He is charged with illegal possession of an explosive device.

Colonel Kosol Ngampramuan, chief of the police bomb squad, said Lt Thawatchai had driven his car back and forth near Mr Thaksin’s home until a security guard notified police.

Col Kosol said 148lbs of ammonium nitrate, 10lbs of TNT and 3.5lbs of C-4 explosive were found in the car. The material was capable of causing damage within a 0.6-mile radius, and would have destroyed everything within 164 to 328 feet.